Putting together a Jigsaw puzzle can be delightfully frustrating and Vancouver-based artist Tim Klein wants to add in some extra puzzle pieces. Yes, Klein practices the obscure art of 'puzzle montage,' taking pieces from various jigsaw puzzle sets and re-arranging them to form interesting photos and stunning images.
This puzzle photo montage practitioner said he was inspired by a 1988 magazine article he read on, whom he credits as, the 'pioneer' of the unique art form, Mel Andringa.
So how does it work? "Jigsaw puzzle companies tend to use the same cut patterns for multiple puzzles. This makes the pieces interchangeable. As a result, I sometimes find that I can combine portions from two or more cool puzzles to make a surreal picture that the publisher never imagined," explained Klein.
While for some this sounds like an impossibly hard puzzle to solve, for this artist it is an adventure: "I take great pleasure in “discovering” such bizarre images lying latent, sometimes for decades, within the pieces of ordinary mass-produced puzzles. As I shift the pieces back and forth, trying different combinations, I feel like an archaeologist unearthing a hidden artifact."
Scroll down below to see some of Klein's masterful puzzle montage art!
#1 Thaw (Warm Breath On A Winter Window)
"Perhaps this montage was too easy! After all, the pieces came from two puzzles showing the same scene. They were Milton Bradley puzzles from the late 1960s, taken from a set of “four seasons” paintings by Paul Detlefsen. (When I show this one in public, I credit it to “Tim Klein, after Paul Detlefsen”.) At the bottom of the “thawed” circle, where green spring meets white winter, the curvature of the puzzle pieces gives a nice melting effect. It's as if you, seeing the winter scene through a window, have breathed upon the glass and magically revealed a glimpse of the warm spring to come"
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122points
#2 Daisy Bindi
"Made from the pieces of two small Springbok puzzles published in 1987, one showing a cat and one showing a basket of flowers."
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110points
#3 Schools (Fishing For Answers)
"Made using pieces from two Hallmark puzzles from the 1970s, one showing a comically unsuccessful fisherman, and the other showing the answers to a blank crossword puzzle that was printed on the box.
I like the fact that the school at the lower left has "arcana" at its core. (Aristotelian arcana, no less!)"
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97points
#4 Metamorphosis (Unburdening)
"Made from two Springbok puzzles from the early 1980s, one showing a peacock and another showing a maze. The "Start" and "Finish" points of the maze can be seen within the wings"
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93points
#8 The Mercy-Go-Round (Sunshine And Shadow)
"I made this montage by combining a Puzzlebug-brand puzzle showing a church with another one showing a carnival ride. I've been a bit surprised at the wide range of reactions it gets. Some people find it humorous, others find it affirming or joyful, and others see it as blasphemous or insulting."
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84points
#10 The Other Side
"Made from two American Publishing Company puzzles from the 1980s. Most of my puzzle montages are in a single plane, with pieces from the two source puzzles intermixed. But in this one, the coins puzzle is on top of the puzzle containing the eyes, resulting in a two-layered piece. Thus, the eyes look into the viewer's eyes from the other side of a wall of gold"
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71points
#11 The Dance Of The Bathroom Cleaning Fairies
"Made from two Springbok puzzles published in the 1980s."
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46points
#14 White Elephant (Present And Future)
"Made from pieces of two Springbok puzzles published in 1978 and 1980."
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41points
#15 Bow Wow
"A diptych made from two miniature Springbok puzzles published in the 1980s, one showing a dog and one showing a clown saying “Wow!!” The two halves are inverses, each one using all the pieces not used in the other.
This pair debuted at the Splendorporium gallery in Portland, Oregon, as part of a circus-themed exhibit"
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41points
#16 Surrogate
"Made from the pieces of two small Hallmark "greeting card" puzzles from the 1980s."
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40points
#17 Mountain Plantation
"This was the first puzzle montage I ever created, using pieces from two Golden Guild puzzles from the 1980s or '90s. One puzzle showed the mansion at Orton Plantation, located in my boyhood hometown of Wilmington, North Carolina. The other puzzle showed Mt. Jefferson, near my current home in the Pacific Northwest."
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37points
#20 To Make Much Of Time (Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May)
"Constructed from two Springbok puzzles from the 1990s, one showing a collection of clocks, and another showing Victorian ephemera. I like the way the central clock's hands from the first puzzle happen to parallel the posture of the maiden from the second puzzle. The title is a reference to the 17th century poem "To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time" by Robert Herrick, and the subtitle is the poem's famous first line."
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33points